The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-14
A FUNERAL IN A TENEMENT.
The transformations Service Over the
Death of Baby.

The transformations Service Over the
Death of Baby.
From, the NeD York World.
A little girl in a red-checked apron stood
on tip-tee to tie two pieces of white ribbon
to the front door-knob of the big tenement
where she lived. 1t was in Rose street just
around the corner.
The ribbon was limp and old, and hung in
a lifelesS way against the worn panels of the
door, She stepped back to note the effect,
and another girl about the same age came
out and joined her The two little ones were
the only signs of life about the great build
ing that looked black and forbidding with
its range of grated fire escapes giving it the
air of a barred prison. The second conner
stared at the first girl with bold eyes for a
moment and said, pointing to the fiuttering
ribbons:
"What did you do that for"
"Baby is dead"
'Do you live in this houses"
Eyes; on the fourth floor"
"Huh," with a sniff of contempt 1--WE
live on the first floor and we've got baby
carriage Then, in a more conciliatory
way: May | come up and see itE'
81 guess So" and the two children, hand
in hand, went up the dark steps to the little
room fronting ON the street, where the
mother and the woman of the next room
were preparing the child for burial
1t was bloodless little thing, the piece OF
clay the women fondled in that lingering
way they have with those they love. The
mother seemed jealous of the attention her
friend showed the child She wanted to at
tend to the last rites herself. She could not
bear to have other hands touch the little
thing. No other hands but hers should
Cf,opnth tho 10illOTy fot. itS last Slnan There
was no wild outburst of weeping on her
part, and, beyond a certain querulousness,
no demonstration of affection. The mother did
not even cry. She was too used to suffering for
that She talked reminiscently of the
bundle of white on the bed. She told how
she never expected TO raise it; that it had
always been thin and sickly; that it was the
best child in spite of all that the world had
ever seen; that she knew it could never
stand the warm weather, and a thousand
other little details that only mother could
remember and repeat. And every now and
then she would begin again and go over its
peculiarities finding some new charm to
tell of.
The other woman was sympathetic and
receptive, petting the mother and calling
her ''Dearie" and my darlin'" and fitting
about the room putting things to rights with
an air of proprietorship that would have
been holly resented at any other time. The
two neighbors living so close together had
been great enemies, and had fought royalty
over the petty privileges of their fourth floor
hallway. But all that was forgotten and
laid aside now
Pretty soon a young man with a weeks
growth of beard and furred silk hat came
in softly without knocking at the door. He
said he was the undertaken. Nobody knew
how he had found out about the death He
had book with pictures Of collins in it. He
stepped on tiptoe across the room and asked
in subdued voice whether tomorrow morn
ing would suit for the funeral. Then he
said that for Sl4 one could get a beautiful
casket He always called his collins casl1ets.
The neighbor took him aside and conferred
with him, finally getting the sl4 casket for
81. Then he went away, after leaving q
receipt for the SIS cash that had been paid
ON installment.
The mother took the cold form of her
child in her arms and rocked it as she had
done so often In life. 1t had a long, white
gown, with a bit of lace down the front
She took wisp of pink ribbon and fastened
it at the baby's throat. The neighbors pro-
tested that she must not do that; it would
never do. But the mother persisted and the
bit of bright color remained.
The husband came home from work at
the usual hour and did not grumble at the
cold supper that was spread for him. He
kissed his wife in way that he had not
done since they were married. They were
loving couple, full of the truest affection for
each other, but the affection did not often
find outward expression. He sat with his
wife for half an hour and thea feeling him
self in the way went down and Joined the
group on the stoop. She did not care to
leave the room.
He was working on a particularly urgent
job and went off with his tools as usual the
next morning. He kissed the mother of the
little one again before he left. The woman
across the hall came in early and put things
to rights. Then she disappeared FOR q little
space and returned. dressed in a newer gown
of black. She brought bunch of ox-eyed
daisies with her and put them in the baby's
hands. The little girl who had tied the
white ribbon that served as Grape to the
front door knob, came up wonderingly and
felt of the flowers. Then she took one for
herself The ueghbor and the undertaken
arranged the casket, the woman quietly
slipping the bit of pink ribbon from the
shroud Put the quick eyes of the mother
se~ it and would not have the child de-
prived of the bit of color. It had always
loved the bright string, she pleaded. So the
pink knot rested there.
A young minister came-he was hardly
more bDdil a UOl-dild Itbu q CudpUtf ITOlll
the Bible and said few words of conso-
lation in German. There were ten or twelve
persons i'm the ROOM He prayed for the bit
Of clay in the coffin. Then the undertaker's
man took the coffin in his arms and carried
it down to the hack that stood waiting at
the door. The mother cried softly to her.
self during the services, and her little girl
stood by her side and stared at the minister.
There was no hearse, and only one carriage.
The man put the little coffin ON the front
scat of the hack, the mother and her little
girl ard the neighbor, who had been so kind
to her, got in with it, one Of the group wait
ing on the sidewalk slammed the door. and
the carriage took its way over to Long
Island to Cypress Hills cemetery. Nothing
was said at the grave by any one. They
took the little box and put it in q great
grave with half a hundred boxes of the
same kind of precious dust that had been
already laid away 10 rest.
In the afternoon the three mourners came
home The mother went up TO the room,
and the little girl again stood on tip-toe at
the door 10 'untic the iluttering white. She
tool; the ribbons upstairs, folded them care
fully and put them back in the box where
they had been at first. They were the rib
bons that her mother had worn the day she
was married.
A Hard Story TO Swallow.
From the Chicago Herald.
Two boys were flying kites out on Kings